- apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, specter, spectre - a ghostly appearing figure; "we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us"
--1 is a kind of spirit, disembodied spirit
--1 has particulars: Flying Dutchman - ghost, shade, spook, wraith, specter, spectre - a mental representation of some haunting experience; "he looked like he had seen a ghost"; "it aroused specters from his past"
--2 is a kind of apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, shadow